I’m sitting in my Entertainment Law for Producers class (no worries, I’m paying attention, but the truth is that I know better than to not hire a lawyer for my film projects) and I just finished reading Demetria Lucas’ (aka Belle) “Weight-y Matters” article. Earlier this week, I also read Sista Toldja’s article (that Belle references) “Hate Male”. Both articles discuss Black women, our weight issue (we’re packing some extra pounds as a group), and its affect on our relationships and dating prospects. I’ve been pondering on this because my knee jerk reaction is to empower my sistas regardless of their size but as someone who has some straight up honest male friends and even female friends who know what the deal is, we all know the unspoken secret.

Yes, I am a size 4, maybe 6 in the bottoms depending on if I’m shopping in H&M or Forever 21 (aka the bony/stick size booty stores), so let me say up front that I’m not living in an overweight body. But I also realize that even though I hate going to the gym, I have a good metabolism, I drink at least 1 Liter of water a day, I eat like a bird and I’ve become more of a health freak as the time goes on. Lately, I did slip some McDonald’s into the diet and I feel gross, especially when one of my girlfriends and high school made a comment saying that my thighs were looking thicker! She said it was a good thing, but I already have adjusted my diet and have some gym visits scheduled into next week. NO GAMES! (I already have peeped my jeans/leggings ripping at the crotch and down the thigh line since last semester. Not sure if I can blame it on them being old lol). The truth is that we’ve all run into some of our friends from awhile back and they have packed on significant pounds since we last saw them. The conversation always starts as “heyyy…(you skip over the you look great part)…how’s school?” I’m sorry, but its true. I know I do it and frankly since the majority of the people that I’ve had that awkward conversation with haven’t had babies yet, it really just comes down to our eating habits and not adjusting our exercise and eating habits to correspond with our changing , aging bodies. I am young, but I just turned 20 and realized that my body really is changing. Some of the ish (such as McDonald’s) that I could get away with snacking on maybe once a month, won’t fly anymore. And since I am DETERMINED to be the baddest chick in my mind and my future boyfriend/future husband’s mind, both in body and spirit, I know that weight is something I have to be conscious of. I see it like this, if I get overweight now, OMG for after I’m married when I drop my first, second, and third child (God-willing). Even though I get the “Shut up Arielle, you’re like a size 2″ treatment from some of my friends, I am quite aware that my size 4 body is going to change post baby. Better to start off as small as possible…I’m just saying. Plus I’m a small chested woman, and I love every bit of my lemon breasts lol (as some of my girlfriends with watermelons tease me). It’s funny because I think in about two years, my currently 12 yr old sister will out grow me LOL. I was able to squeezzee into one of her training bras over the summer (I left my bras in NY), its not looking good lol. But all of this is to say that I am aware that I can’t rock a big stomach. It just doesn’t work with my shape!

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